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Jury selection begins in Meta youth harms trial in California federal court

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Jury selection began Wednesday in Meta's federal trial over claims its platforms have harmed youth mental health and track children in violation of federal law. The trial is scheduled to begin next week and is expected to last six to eight weeks. Meta faces 29 states in the federal multidistrict lawsuit filed in 2023, but the Oakland trial will only include the first four — California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey. Eight states, including Tennessee where a trial is ongoing, filed lawsuits in their own state courts. The 2023 lawsuit, filed in ...

France bans unsolicited telemarketing calls, with hefty fines for violators

PARIS (AP) — France has banned unsolicited telemarketing calls under a new law aimed at protecting consumers from intrusive sales pitches and shielding vulnerable people from fraudulent commercial practices. The law backed by President Emmanuel Macron's government entered into force ...

Extreme heat is reshaping Italy’s sparkling wine industry with early harvests and nighttime picking

CORTE FRANCA, Italy (AP) — Workers fan out before dawn to clip clusters of grapes destined to be transformed into Italy's prized Franciacorta sparkling wine a full 10 days earlier than anticipated, as scorching temperatures brought the fruit to maturation earlier than ever. Climate change is narrowing the window for harvesting wine grapes, forcing winemakers to make quick decisions when even a few days can mean the difference between a good vintage and a bad one. "These are delicate, frantic moments, and everything has to work perfectly,'' said Berlucchi CEO Arturo Ziliani, whose ...

At colleges, the AI boom means everyone wants to dabble in computer science

With no background in coding, Faith Maeba, a psychology major, was reluctant when her mother first suggested she enroll in classes on artificial intelligence. But the senior at Virginia Commonwealth University began to see it differently as she looked into graduate psychology programs that explore human behavior in the workplace, which is quickly being upended by machine learning. Maeba, 21, is now pursuing a minor in AI. "It's giving me an edge and standing out," she said. Hiring has cooled for entry-level software developers — work increasingly done by AI agents — and ...

August’s total solar eclipse will sweep over Spain, Iceland and Greenland

For the first time in more than a century, a total solar eclipse is coming to mainland Spain with an even longer encore next summer. Toss in a crescendoing meteor shower and a six-planet parade on the same day, and the heavens will be overflowing with awe. Daytime darkness will descend Aug. 12 across the Iberian Peninsula close to sunset — plus slivers of Greenland and Iceland — as the sun, moon and Earth align perfectly in the sky. Starting near the North Pole before tracking south, totality will last up to two minutes and 18 seconds, an appetizer for an even longer solar ...